It begins here,

James Cameron's Avatar

System: PC

Author: Thephilemngr

The first review on the site should probably be written by someone who actually has gone to school to do this type of thing, but since there isn't anybody else here, it's going to be done by me. So for the first review I bring you James Cameron's Avatar for the PC. As this is a game based off a movie of the same name I was expecting something that was rushed, and boring, instead what I got was something that really let me use my new equipment, and have a blast doing it. The game starts off with you choosing what you want to look like and weather to be male or female, then it's off to Pandora. The planet this game is based off of is a world filled with tropical forests, and floating islands. The levels in the game really makes you feel like you are in a real forest with plenty of trees and underbrush around to provide cover and some excellent vistas, and the varied wildlife give it that extra touch. At a point not far into the game you will have to make a decision to side with either the humans, or the planets native intelligent race the Navi. The Navi are a humanoid race of people who tower above the humans being about nine or ten feet tall, and oh yeah they're blue.

The game seems to do a good job of not spoiling the movies story as there seems to be no love interest with any of the characters, and the player does not start out in a wheelchair. Now i have yet to see the movie as of the time of this article so i could be wrong. Where the story does do is give you a series of missions to collect a rare rock that the humans found on the planet that is worth a fortune back home on earth. The Navi act as the planets guardians keeping the planet in balance, and trying to keep the humans from destroying it. One thing that could be changed is that they need more story, as I'm about done with the game, I still have no idea how the Avatars work other than you get in a machine, and now you're blue. There are a few bits of story here and there, but for the most part it's go here, kill humans/navi/wolfs or collect some rocks return then go to the next mission. There are a few different mission types but not many, and after a few hours into the  game it feels a bit like Deja Vu with a new color pallet.
There are a few levels that let you use the games vehicles/animals, as the humans you'll be driving a buggy, Helicopter like craft, and mechs, as for the Navi you'll be using the local wildlife to get around. The weapons in the game are varied enough to keep them from getting repetitive and there are upgrades for all of them that give them more damage, and ammo and even armor for yourself. All new gear acquired shows up on the character, and it's nice they took their various helmets off during the cutscenes so you can see the players face.  Both the human and Navi players get quite a few skills to further increase your damage output or to provide other useful bonuses like invisibility, or armor upgrades. Both races have their own skills, but they are really similar and make playing with the other race feel a bit familiar, without being too repetitious. As the humans you'll be sticking mostly to the ground, and be using various firearms to dispatch the Flora and Fauna trying to make a meal out of you. The Navi use mostly bladed weapons, and their Bow to solve their problems, with the Navi being the more limber of the races, you'll be spending most of your time in the trees raining arrows from above.
The controls are where most of the games problems occur, you play from an over the shoulder perspective similar to Resident Evil (without the aim zoom). I found a setting that I wish was turned on from the start that turned on the aim assist in the options. They really needed to have that option on as I almost put the game away out of frustration at the fast enemies and slow movement of your aiming. As soon as I turned on that setting I found that my bullets actually hit the really fast enemies you'll encounter early on. The setting that made the most enjoyable change in the game was turning on the games beautiful 3D capability. A few months back I purchased a new Samsung 22" 120Hz monitor, and Nvidias 3D Vision glasses, and this game can push the 3D nicely. I wish there was a way to show the effect on your screen without the glasses for, but since I cannot all I can do is describe it. Think of it like a box in front of you that you cannot see the front and back sides of and the game playing out inside it, so that when you look down range of the player you actually see the depth between the objects on-screen. It's tricky to describe, but it looks allot better than those old two color red and blue magazine glasses, you can see allot further back with the shutter glasses, and they don't cause me headaches, even after extended playtime. The world of Pandora really comes to life when you can see the distance between you and the critter trying to eat you in front behind the tree, or just looking at the games MANY wide open vistas. I really think Ubisoft wanted to show off the world in 3D because switching from normal to 3D just feels so different as to be a different game.